March 1965 Gordon E. Dunn and Staff 175 THEHURRICANE SEASON OF 1964 GORDON E. DUNN AND STAFF* U.S. Weather Bureau Office, Miami, Fla. 1. GENERALSUMMARY spondvery well withthe composite chart for atverage Twelvetropical cyclones,six of hurricaneintensity, departures from nornml for seasons of maxinlum tropical developedover tropical Atlantic waters during 1964. cycloneincidence inthe southeastern United States as This is the largest number since 1955 and compares with developed by Ballenzweig [a]. an average of 10during the past three decades. The September was aneven more active month and cor- centers of four hurricanes penetrated the mainland of the respondence between Ballenzweig'scomposite chrt and United States, the largest number to do so since the five theobserved values was better, particularly south of in 1933. There have been only four other years with four latitude 40' W. According toGreen [3] thesubtropical or more since 1900; four in 1906, 1909, and 1926, and six High was abnornlallystrong and displacedslightly in 1916.While none of thefour renching the mainland northwardfrom normal (favorable for tropical cyclone in 1964 wits :L major hurricane at the time of landfall, formation) while the 700-mb. jet was slightlysouth of three-Cleo, Dora, and EIi1da"were severe. normal (unfavorable). The long-wave position fluctuated Florida was struck by three hurricanes in addition to back and forth from the Rockies and Great Plains east- dyinghurricane Hilda and one tropical cyclone of less ward and the tropical cyclones experienced considerable than hurricane intensity; thus ended an unequalled rela- difficulty in penetrating the westerlies. During the major tively hurricane-free period of 13 years from 1951 through hurricanemonths in 1964 the long-wavetrough failed 1963. Duringthis period Florida experienced three to remain along the enst coast of the United States for hurricanes compared with a norlml expectancy of 11.7, any sustained period, nncl when there its amplitucle was and only one nmjor hurricme (Donna) compared to n very weak, in strong contrast to the hurricnne seasons of normal of 3+. 1962 and 1963. The tropicd Atlantic atmospherewas unstable through- In October at 700 mb. thelow-latitude trough \vas out the sunlnler and fall with numerous disturbances and locatedin the Gulf of Mexiconear longitude 90' W. depressions.One reached tropical storm intensity early from the 1st to the 5th, and Hilda recurved just east of in June and another in late Julg,no but storm of hurricane its axis [4]. By themiddle of October a long-wave intensity was noted until August21. There was a tropical positionalong theeast coast of theUnited States had cyclone on the chart on all but two days from August20 becomeestablished which crtusecl therecurvnture of throughOctober 4. With the exception of Florenceall Isbell over southern Florida. nloved or recurved west of longitude 60' 17. (fig. 1). The Statisticson casualties and clamage for the 1964 number of huwicane days \vas 46, which in t,he past 11 hurricane season are shomn in table 2. It is interesting gears was exceeded by 49 in 1961 and 56 in 1955 (table 1). to note that as much as $500 million hurricane clamage August 1964 was considered an active month from a can occur in the United States in :L single season without tropicalstandpoint. According toPosey [I] the 700-~nb. any major hurricane. mid-latitudewinds in the Northern Hemisphere were quitezonal. A negative height arlomaly band ahost TABLEl.-Hztrricane days - encircled the globe to the southof a large positive anonlaly - over the Atlantic and was associated with a slight south- Yca1 - warddisplacement of the westerlies. Major long-wuve v 5 troughs were located veryclose to thewest and east coasts - of the United States near their usual positions; however, 1954 -.-... - ._. 31 1955..". - ..-. 56 the east coast trough was weak south of latitude 35' N. 1956." ...____ 15 1957..__._. .-. 22 and during the period August 25-29, when Cleo wt~sap- 1958.". -.- - -. 35 1959.". __.... 24 proaching and moving northward over Florida, thc long 1960 .._....... 19 1961 49 wave had retrograded int,o the Great Plains. The mean 1962 11 1953 41 700-mb. height anomalies for August 1964 do not corre- 1964 4G Total"". ". - 449 *Paul L. Moore, Gilbert A. Clark, Neil L. Frank, Elbert C. IIi11, Raymond II. Kraft, - and Arnold L. Sugg. 'If two hurricanes are in existcnce on one day, this is counted as two hurricane clays. Unauthenticated | Downloaded 09/28/21 10:59 AM UTC 1 76 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW Vol. 93, No. 3 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 09/28/21 10:59 AM UTC ~~ Morch 1965 MONTHLYWEATHER REVIEW 177 TABLE2,"Danaage and cas~~alties, hvrricane season1964 United States Other areas Date I Storm Damage _"Deaths Damage June 2-11 ................. .. ....... 0 $1, 000,000 0 0 July 28-Aug. 3 ........... Unnamed (T)........ 0 0 0 0 Aug. 5-8 ................. Abby (T)............. 0 750,000 0 0 Aug. 7-10 ................ Brenda (T)........... 0 0 0 $275,000 hug. 20-Sept. 5 .......... Cleo (H).............. 3 128,500,000 70,000, 000 214 Aug. 28-Sept. lG......... Dora(l1) .............. 5 253,000,000 0 0 Sept. 4-16 ................ Ethel (1-1)............. 0 0 0 Very minor Sept. 610................ Florence (T).......... 0 0 0 0 Scut. 13-25 ............... Gladvs~, (11) ........... 0 0 0 0 Sei~t.28-Oct. 5 ........... Ililda (1.1)............. 38 125,000,000 0 1,000,000 Oct. 8-16 ................. Isbell (I{) ............. 3 10,000,000 3 10,000,000 Nov. 5-9 ................. Unnamed (T)........ 0 0 0 5,000,000 __- Total .............. G(T) G(I.1) ........... 6515,250,000 217 1 $8Ii,275,000 I 49 T=Tropical storm. T=Tropical H=Hurricano. 2. INDIVIDUALTROPICAL CYCLONES althoughmaximum surface easterly winds of 50 1n.p.h. mere observed near 21 " N., 50" W. The lowest sea level Unnamed Tropical Storm, June ,%ll.-During June 2 pressure was 1011 mb. and 3, a weak tropical depression slowly developed over The next morning reconnaissance found that the pres- the extreme northwestern Caribbean just to the east of surehad dropped to 1006 mb.with asmall wind and BritishHonduras and the Yucatan Peninsula. The pressure eye near 22.15" N., 56.4OOW.; maximum surface original disturbance apparently moved out of the Inter- windsof 50 m.p.h. wereobserved in the northwest and tropicalConvergence Zone (ITC). On the4th, the northeastquadrants. That afternoon seconda recon- depression began drifting slowly northward and reached naissance flight found tha,tno intensification had occurred. theextreme southeastern Gulf of Mexico by the5th. The centralpressure was 2 mb. higher than in the morning During this period, maximum winds were generally 25 to and the wind field remained about the same. 30 m.p.h. in scattered squalls. On July 30 the system persisted as it turned toward the Movingnorth-northeastward to northeastward at 15 north-northwest. A squall area oriented north-northwest m.p.h., the depressioncrossed extreme northern Florida to south-southeast was located 60 to SO mi. east of a weak the afternoon of June 6 with no significant intensification, wind circulation centered at 29.0" N., 61.3" W., at 1400 but laterdeveloped tropia1 storm intensityon the morning EST. The lowest pressure was 1012 mb. and the wind near of the 7th off the Georgia and South Carolina coasts. It thecenter was less than 10 kt. However,winds up t.o thenmoved on an east-northeastward course at 15 to 55 to 65 m.p.h. were reported in the squall band. Rapid 20 m.p.h., and continued to intensify slowly. movement of the center (20 m.p.h. or more) contributed Reaching n position some 200 mi, north of Bermuda by to themaximum winds observed, but the strong basic June 9, the storm changed to an easterly course around current also tended to mask and perhaps to inhibit the 10 m.p.h. underthe influence of an intensifyinghigh development of a well-defined vortical wind field. pressuresystem to the northeast. h4aximum intensity On themorning of the 31st, thecenter waslocated was reached at this time with winds of about 60 m.p.h. some 300 mi. east of Bermuda moving toward the north- reported by ships. east. There wa,s little organization and central pressure On June 11 the storm turned northward and was soon remained at 1012 mb., with winds of 55 to 65 1n.p.h. east absorbed by a large extratropical Low over the Canadian of the center. During the day as the pressure dropped to Maritimes. 1008 mb., a well-defined radar band appeared northeast There was local flooding in western Cuba and in a few of the center and windsin the western portion of the circu- areas in the Southeastern States. Strong winds and hail lationincreased to 25 to 30 m.p.11. It is believed that associated with thunderstorm activity caused considerable the cyclone metthe specifications of a tropicalstorm damage in northeastern Florida. Damage in the Jackson- beginning about midday on the 31st. Some further inten- ville area was estimated in excess of $300,000, and there sification and better organization was noted on August 1 was a local windstorm near Cross City. with ships reporting windsof 45 n1.p.h. or higher; and one, UnnamedTropical Storm, July &-August 3.-During apparently in a squall, reported 80 m.p.h. A cold front the night of July 27-28, ship reports indicateda perturba- was beginning to enter the inner portionof the circulation tion in the central Atlantic near 20" N., 45" W., which butthe center was still warm. Data were insufficient was quitelikely related to acloud vortex viewed by to describe thestorm's subsequent history completely, TIROS near14" N., 24" W. onJuly 25, and a weak but it seems likely that it did not become extratropical surfacecirculation observed simultaneously in the Cape until late on August2 near 47" N.